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This book takes on London's history in a unique and quirky way with an erudite collection of London tales from medieval times to the modern day, enhanced by the author's London upbringing.
Londonopolis covers above and below ground, from the outer suburbs to the inner city.
- Publication Date: September 2014
- Pages: 224 pages (Hardback)
- Dimensions: 20.6 x 14.8 x 2.3 cm
About the Author
Martin Latham has a PhD in history from London University and was a lecturer at Hertfordshire University before becoming a bookseller.
He has managed the Waterstones bookshop in Canterbury for 21 years. Raised in London, with an interesting family history, the author includes plenty of personal tales: childhood in Kensington, one of eight children, Cockney dad, etc. The author's father was clearly a strong influence on him and he is featured in the Secret Streams chapter.
Londonopolis Book Review
This book certainly got me reaching for the dictionary as the author uses an intellectual vocabulary. But it was worth persevering as within the first few pages I discovered new things about my favorite city. For example, did you know London is the worldwide hotspot for fairy sightings? No, me neither.
The book is divided into short chapters so is easy to read a bit at a time. It would have been nice to have the chapter name on each page too as I was unsure of each moment in London's history although the chapters are chronological in each section.
Latham raises a very good point that archaeologists are victims of their era so are likely to see the strong religious influence of their time projected onto finds from the past.
I never knew there was an underground stream near The National Gallery that supplied the Trafalgar Square fountains until 1935 when they were connected to the mains water supply.
And I enjoyed reading about the East India Company and had no idea before about their employee-focused working practices. It seems the company was a pioneer of the work-life balance.
Enlightenment London was a term I haven't seen used before in the history books but here it covers 1650 to 1800. Incredibly, in 1800 alone, London book shops sold 431,000 astrology almanacs.
The section also talks about the formation of the Royal Society with Sir Isaac Newton as one of the members. And then surprised me by featuring alchemy and stating Newton himself wrote more about alchemy than physics.
Another interesting fact: I've visited Kensington Palace many times but never knew King William III was only 5ft 6in and that Queen Mary II was 5ft 11in.
The Moments of Being section is about individuals and short experiences in London. Moments of awareness is what they are. It includes the The Handel Museum and the fact the museum office was once Jimi Hendrix's flat.
In Victorian London there is a lovely chapter about falling in love with Big Ben. And I didn't know the clock in the St Pancras station clock tower was displayed at the 1851 Great Exhibition. (See St Pancras Renaissance photos.)
Londonopolis mentions London addresses where featured people lived or died and, for some reason, that brings the book to life even more for me as they are places I can see today.
The author seriously doesn't like brutalism or the architects who created buildings in London in that style of architecture. There are incredibly derisory comments about seven architects the author feels left a terrible blot on London's landscape. Yet while I was reading this book the National Trust we're offering popular tours of Balfron Tower designed by Ernö Goldfinger.
The author speaks with much more fondness when discussing books and bookshops (he is a bookseller.)
In a chapter about inspirational shops - shops that may not be remembered in many books but they all changed history - the author has first hand experience of the Biba shop opening on his street. It then moved to High Street Kensington and had a roof garden which is now Kensington Roof Gardens.
And I didn't know Watkins Books on Cecil Court sells more books on world religions than any shop in the world.
It's not a standard history book as it has a lot of opinion and not just fact. Most refer to John Ruskin as a Victorian art critic but the author describes him as a "bore" which may well be true too.
The book doesn't seem to stay solely on the subject of London but takes a topic and compares and adds knowledge. There has certainly been a lot of reading and research completed to complement the knowledge the author already has from his London life.
Updates
While generally well-researched I would add a few notes for the reprint. The Indian Bean Tree is no longer at St James's Church Piccadilly, and Jeremy Bentham is still on display at UCL.
Conclusion
I like the sentiment that if the "parks are the lungs of London [then] the river is its soul." And any book that can include a Ghostbusters quote is fine by me.
Publishers Website:www.batsford.com/blog/londonopolis
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
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